#5 Virginia (15-3, 3-2 ACC)

Event Information

• Maryland will host No. 5 Virginia Friday at 6 p.m. at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex in the Terps' final ACC home game. Admission is free and parking is free after 4 p.m. It will also be the Terrapins annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness. The Terps ask fans to consider donating to the National Foundation for Cancer Research at https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/maryland-fieldhockey/p4tc.

• The game will be shown live online via TerpsTV Premium for a fee. Click here to watch.

Scouting The Terps

• Maryland is No. 1 in both the latest Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches poll and in the NCAA's RPI rankings released Oct. 22. The Terps have been No. 1 in both for the last month and are 8-0 vs. top 10 teams.

• The Terps are coming off of a 3-2 loss to No. 15 Old Dominion Sunday. ODU scored 1:06 into the game off a penalty corner, then Shelby Sydnor scored off a rebounded shot to tie it 14 minutes later. The Monarchs took the lead back in the 51st minute off a score by Danielle Clutter and added a third goal for a 3-1 lead less than a minute later. The Terrapins pulled Natalie Hunter out of the goal with 6:29 to go. Forty-seven seconds later, Maxine Fluharty scored to cut it to 3-2, but the Terps' comeback bid fell just short.

• In their 16 games of the season, 15 different Terrapins have scored and 11 have scored two goals or more. Senior Jill Witmer scored her 62nd career goal Friday and is No. 5 on Maryland's all-time scoring list.

• Twelve Terps have notched an assist. In all, Maryland has 49 assists on 69 goals scored so far this year.

• Virginia went 16-6 in 2012 and fell to the eventual national champion Princeton 5-2 in the NCAA Second Round.

• The Terrapins own the all-time series, 38-20-2. They split their two meetings in 2012. Virginia won the first 3-2 in Charlottesville last Sept. 28. Maryland led 2-1 in the 48th minute after goals from Katie Gerzabek and Anna Dessoye. Virginia scored twice within two minutes to take the win. | RECAP

• Maryland won the second meeting, 5-1, in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Maryland led 2-0 at halftime, then Sarah Sprink notched her first career hat trick, all in the second half, to move Maryland to the ACC Championship game. | RECAP

Play the Best

The Terrapins will play one of the strongest schedules in the country. • Maryland is 8-0 vs. top 10 teams this year. • The Terps will play nine games against eight of the other 15 teams in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. They are 7-1 vs. those teams. • The Terrapins are 3-0 vs. the three other 2012 Final Four teams, Princeton, North Carolina and Syracuse. • Maryland will play 12 of the teams ranked in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll in 13 regular season games. So far, Maryland is 9-1 vs. ranked teams.

The 2010 and 2011 NFHCA National Coach of the Year, Missy Meharg returns for her 26th season at the helm of the successful Terrapin field hockey program. Her current career record is 465-113-9 (.800). Below is a breakdown of just a few of her highlights since she took the reins in 1988:

• Seven-time National Champions • Nine ACC Titles • Nine NFHCA Coach of the Year honors • Six ACC Coach of the Year awards • 15 NCAA Final Four Appearances • Seven Honda Awards won by five players • 88 All-ACC selections • 14 ACC Players of the Year • Seven ACC Rookies of the Year • Five Olympians

Staff Updates

The Terrapins welcome a newcomer and a returnee to the program in 2013. Joppe de Vries joins the staff as a new assistant coach/technical director. Maryland alum Steve Simpson returns as a volunteer assistant. • De Vries comes to College Park after coaching and teaching at the University of Amsterdam. He has been in coaching circles in the Netherlands for over a decade and has coached prominent clubs, including the Rotterdam Hockey Club and former Terrapin Berber Rischen. He worked on the South African hockey staff training goalkeepers for the 2012 London Olympic Games. • Simpson, a 1988 graduate of the University of Maryland, began working alongside the program as an undergraduate student. He was hired by Meharg in 1995 and was an assistant through 2003. Together, they won the 1999 national title. Since then, he coached at New Hampshire and UMass and most recently, at Syracuse.

Oh Captain, My Captain

• Cabrera, a redshirt junior, will help with off the field team chemistry and leadership.

• McEvoy, a senior who was recently named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, has started throughout her career for the Terrapins’ defense. She and Sprink will help lead the Terps on the field.

• Sprink will serve as the Terrapins’ liaison with officials as NCAA field hockey moves into using a referral system.

Three Named to All-ACC Preseason Team

• Three Terrapins were named to the 11-member Preseason All-ACC Team - Maxine Fluharty, Ali McEvoy and Jill Witmer. • The Terrapins were picked to finish second in the ACC and received a first-place vote. • The Terrapins have won nine overall ACC titles. Most recently, they won three straight from 2008, 2009 and 2010. • Witmer was named to the All-ACC Team last year, while McEvoy made it in 2011. This is Fluharty's first honor from the conference.

Home Sweet Home

Since its opening in 2003, the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex has provided the Maryland hockey program a huge home field advantage. • The Terps are 123-14 (.898) all-time at the Complex. • Maryland won 38 straight games at the Complex from Oct.11, 2008 through Oct. 14, 2011. The streak ended with a 5-2 loss to then-No. 1 Old Dominion. • The Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex has played home to 20 of Maryland's NCAA Tournament games, including two Final Fours (2007, 2010). The Terrapins are 19-1 in those games and won the 2010 national title on their home field.

Pack the House

The Maryland field hockey team has increasingly attracted more and more fans to the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex season after season. • The Terrapins have led the nation in attendance for three straight years and the ACC for six years. In 2012, Maryland averaged 643 fans per game with 7,725 fans coming out to the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. • An NCAA record crowd of 2,381 came out to watch as Maryland beat North Carolina 3-2 in double overtime for the 2010 national championship at the Complex.

Terps in Openers

• Maryland is 36-3-2 in season openers and the Terps have won their last 18 straight. • The Terrapins haven't opened the season at home in the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex since 2000. They've opened 26 of their 40 seasons on the road. • The Terps are 10-1 in home openers at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex and have outscored their opponents 46-11 in those 11 games.

Meharg Named ESPNU/ESPN The Magazine Top 20 Recruiter

Terrapin head coach Missy Meharg was named one of college athletics' top 20 recruiters by ESPNU/ESPN The Magazine in January 2012.

"ESPNU AND THE MAGAZINE asked an all-star panel a seemingly simple question: Who are the top 20 recruiters in college sports? We spoke with three dozen experts, from Mag college football Insider Bruce Feldman to volleyball legend Karch Kiraly to women's World Cupper Cat Whitehill. Turns out, baseball coaches aren't the only ones pulling roster magic from a hat half-filled with scholarships."

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Media Information

• Email Straight To You: If you would like the latest Maryland field hockey news emailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, email field hockey contact Rose DiPaula with "Field Hockey E-Mail" as the subject and you will receive every update.

• Terps on the Web: For up-to-date game stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please log-on to www.umterps.com on the Internet.

• Live stats: Follow Terps games live in 2013 on your computer with Live Stats. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.